


Scar

by existslikePristin



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 22:47:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18882790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/existslikePristin/pseuds/existslikePristin
Summary: This is just a terrible story and you shouldn't read it probably.Something(TM) happens to South Korea. The government is in desperate need of funding and pretty much the whole world doesn't want to give it to them for Some Reason(TM). So they're resorting to selling idols.Warnings I'd include that aren't on the AO3 list: Depictions of Racism, Depictions of Dark Fantasies/Fears (sexual and otherwise)





	1. Chapter 1

An airplane touched down in the United States, and the flyers inside were greeted at the gate by an extra security check. The plane was in from South Korea, and the whole world was wary of it. That's how the world was with every Korean flight. Passengers were told nothing about the additional security check, other than their checked luggage would be an extra twenty minutes or so, as it was being scanned again.

Among the passengers being double checked was Jiu. She was there with one of her managers from the days of Dreamcatcher (now a government employee, by law), Eunyeong. The other person they were with, a government official overseeing this campaign named Woo-jin, would act very offended to hear Dreamcatcher spoken about in the past tense though. After all, package deals were probably going to give South Korea's dying economy the biggest boost and Dreamcatcher was the name of a package deal at that point, not a band.

Jiu tried her best to ignore the occasional glares she got from people, the not so subtle whispers about her degenerate society. She tried to ignore the feeling that she wanted to argue back and defend herself. She wouldn't be the first to try, and the stories about anyone who did ended poorly.

The air outside the terminal was unexpectedly clean. There was some smog in the distance, but it was nothing like the pollution in Seoul when they left. Jiu even smiled a little at the sight of the clouds, as bright of a white as they were.

When the shuttle arrived though, Jiu remembered why she was there. By law, she was a slave. But she wasn't being sold. She was being given away, along with the rest of her "package deal," as a promotion. Of course the reasoning for this wasn't explained to her fully, but she figured it had to be because she and the rest of Dreamcatcher were attractive, but not really popular enough to be worth a real sale.

She wasn't happy about it. She had only just gotten around to accepting the fact that she was a slave and despite what little was left of her pride, looked forward to seeing how much she'd be sold for. It was to help her home country after all. She knew South Korea was suffering due to the decisions of a few, far too powerful people, and hers was a sacrifice that could benefit her family and friends. But now, she wasn't a contribution. She could only hope this marketing strategy meant more idols would be sold. If not, she was there for nothing. And if it worked she was convincing people to buy idols, which still didn't sit easy.

Jiu tried to think about something else. She hadn't had a reason to say her Dreamcatcher introduction in about a year. Woo-jin had instructed her to practice her introduction in English to avoid blurring it out in Korean out of habit. She was skeptical that she would forget but practiced anyway. And she didn't stop until they arrived at the embassy.

They weren't to be there long. Woo-jin talked to a few other government workers, including a couple of Americans. Jiu made note of his awkward way of speaking English and how the Americans cringed at it. He sounded like she did months ago. He hadn't been practicing, but he wasn't going to be living in this country for the foreseeable future.

The embassy had a nice car to go the rest of the way, about a half hour drive. Jiu wasn't sure what time it was though. It looked like it was morning but it still felt like it was nearly time for bed to her. She dozed off on the way, imagining who her owner was going to be. She'd only heard her referred to as Ms. Jenkins so far. No pictures, nothing descriptive, just Ms. Jenkins. Jiu imagined an overweight old lady, or maybe middle aged, and wearing a boa made out of a fox, carrying around a purse with a couple of unnaturally tiny dogs in it, and eating a feast of hamburgers and pizza in a mansion. The thought was somewhere between hilariously comforting and terrifying. The American stereotype was funny to think about but every American Jiu had encountered in the last year, including the current day, had been pretty hostile.

Jiu's preconceptions faded away somewhat when they pulled into a driveway. They were in a complex of apartment buildings. The buildings weren't terrible or run down, but they weren't opulent by any means. Definitely not what Jiu had expected.

Once they pulled into a parking spot, they sat still for a while. Nobody there had quite realized until that moment that they were about to give away a human being (seven to be exact). Other than Jiu, of course. Woo-jin was the first to slap his knees and open the car door. He got up, grabbed his folder full of paperwork, and leaned back in just long enough to say, "Let's go save Korea."

Maybe it was over the top, or maybe overdramatic, but it gave Jiu a little boost of confidence. She got out of the car and followed Woo-jin, Eunyeong just behind them. The walk to the outdoor staircase, up the stairs themselves, and the short hallway all felt surreal. Jiu could feel her heart beating in her ears louder and louder as they walked further. The confidence may have gotten her out of the car, but it was only muscle memory that kept her feet moving.

She jumped when Woo-jin turned and knocked on a door. Eunyeong grabbed her shoulders. Whether it was to comfort her or keep her from suddenly running away, Jiu couldn't tell.

A couple of minutes passed before the door opened. Jiu's heart dropped when the doorknob turned. In that moment Eunyeong's hands moved off her shoulders, but Jiu wished they had stayed, because she twitched as if she actually was going to run. The door opened slowly for the first few inches before it opened wide.

In the doorway stood a young woman, maybe around the same age as Jiu. She was clearly not prepared for guests, dressed in a frumpy tshirt and sweatpants. Her shoulder length hair looked like she had just gotten out of bed. She didn't say anything at all, looking at the three Koreans with a mildly disgusted expression.

"Charlotte Jenkins?" Woo-jin asked after a few seconds.

She responded with a voice that was a little lower pitched than expected. "Uh... yeah. What do you want?"

"We are with the South Korean government. We have an offer for you."

This was clearly what Woo-jin had been practicing. Instead of basic English, he had been working on his pitch.

Unfortunately for him, it didn't quite catch. Charlotte started to slowly close the door. "Well, that's cool, but I don't know if you hav--"

"No, wait! Please!"

Everyone stood, shocked, for a moment. Jiu didn't know why she said it, but she did. She still felt worried about the whole situation, but something just made her shout it out. She looked around at everyone before she faced Charlotte and bowed, introducing herself as a member of Dreamcatcher.

Charlotte stared back and slowly said, "Annyeong, uh, Jiu. Sorry, I don't know what... 'goom' means."

Dread filled Jiu, up to her eyes. She felt nauseous, even. She'd been practicing her English introduction for two weeks and in a fraction of a second she had ruined it, feeling proud of herself without even realizing she'd used the wrong language.

The awkward pause didn't last too long though, as it was replaced by Woo-jin jumped in, possibly just as awkwardly, "Sorry, Ms. Jenkins. We are here to offer a job offer. We have heard that you are currently looking. We can pay well if you hear us out."

Charlotte looked at the slowly melting Jiu, the silent Eunyeong, and back to Woo-jin before she reopened the door all the way and backed up. She still sounded dubious at best, "I guess you can come in then."

Jiu got a nudge in the back from her manager to move, and the three of them went inside, sitting on the only couch in the apartment. It faced a coffee table, a smallish television and the front window. The curtain was easy to see through from this side, meaning it was very possible that Charlotte had seen them coming before they knocked. Jiu wondered if she had seen her being startled.

It was a small apartment, a far cry from what Jiu had imagined on the way there. The living room they were in shared a space with the kitchen, only separated by a countertop. There were two doors beside the entrance, which Jiu assumed were a bathroom and a bedroom, but that was it. There wasn't even so much as a closet or pantry visible.

Charlotte carried a folding chair out of the kitchen area and set it up in the living room. As she sat, she asked, "Anybody want some tea or something?"

Eunyong and Woo-jin both agreed to take some, so Charlotte got right back up and walked to the kitchen.

"So a job offer huh? I admit I don't remember applying at the South Korean embassy. What's this about?"

"I am sure that you know about the financial crisis in South Korea now, right Ms. Jenkins?" Woo-jin started leading back into his pitch. 

"I know about it in passing, yeah. Fill me in on the most recent news?"

Eunyeong spoke up to explain some of the more intricate details of the crisis. She was careful to paint South Korea in a sympathetic light, emphasizing that they weren't partnering with North Korea or China to try to fix things. By the time she finished, Charlotte was setting down mismatched cups of green tea on the coffee table as well as a small bowl of sugar and spoons.

"Okay, so then, what does that have to do with me?"

Woo-jin took a deep breath. "On behalf of the South Korean government, we would like to give you Dreamcatcher as slaves."

Charlotte held her tea up to her mouth and stared back at Woo-jin. There was a long pause, where Jiu took her cup with shaky hands and sipped.

"Excuse me?"

"We will compensate very well of course. We have set aside a substantial amount of money to equal three times the pay you had while teaching English in our country, and cover the additional expenses of owning slaves," Woo-jin said a little quickly, adding, "South Korea needs a person to show the benefits of owning Korean idols, and we think that you would be ideal for that. As part of this, we would ask that you maintain a presence online to best showcase this."

Charlotte set down her cup and squinted at Woo-jin. Her eyes didn't leave him as she talked slowly, "So you want to give away a slave as part of some kind of promotion of slavery. And the place you come to do that is the United States? It's kind of a worldwide thing now but still," she paused, "How much are you planning to sell these girls for?"

Woo-jin was visibly shaken. He came prepared with numbers, not a moral argument. "Ah. We. Ah. Expect that. Men and women idols are both selling, I mean. We expect..." he stammered for nearly a minute before giving Charlotte the fairly extravagant number that the government was estimating for the sale of each idol. He took a quick sip of tea and got himself back on track, "It has already provided the money needed to keep South Korean citizens fed for the next year. Our focus now is on rebuilding critical structures. We hope that we can stimulate the economy with this fund and encourage new businesses and innovates."

A few more minutes of slightly broken explanation went by. Eunyeong also took a turn, trying to appeal to the moral side of the argument, "As you know, slavery is becoming accepted again. Since the United Nations is regulating it and ensuring the safety of slaves. Anybody that an idol is sold to is held to their standards, which we would definitely help with. All of the idols being sold are well informed now, and they have been given chances to exit the program. But most stayed because they know it will benefit their families and country."

Charlotte looked at Jiu. Jiu felt like her eyes were digging in, trying to get more information. Jiu was given the option of opting out of this whole ordeal, it was true. But from her perspective, it was almost like she didn't have the choice. They had been opted in automatically when the government took ownership of the former entertainment companies. There was a lot of societal pressure being put on her and other idols to go through with it. And they believed that it really was in their country's best interest. Even so, the idea of being owned by another person frightened Jiu. Or maybe, she thought when she met Charlotte's eyes, she was only nervous about who her owner would be.

"Of course. I have given consent to participate in this program and I believe that we're doing what's best. There are a lot of people in South Korea who this will help. I think we can provide a lot to the world again if we're given the chance," Jiu said. And this time, it was all English, which Charlotte pointed out.

"You're pretty eloquent you know. Maybe you should have explained this whole thing yourself."

Jiu blushed and looked back down at her untouched tea. Again she could feel her heartbeat, and it drowned out the sound of the discussion, though Jiu could still hear that it was happening. It sounded like Charlotte was participating more, as if she were actually considering the offer.

After about an hour and a half of conversation, almost entirely between Charlotte and Woo-jin, it seemed that a deal had been reached. Jiu could barely pay attention to the details, but she did notice at one point Woo-jin becoming flustered and making a phone call. But when all was said, he pulled some papers out of his folder and laid them out on the coffee table. Jiu recognized them as slave transfer documents mostly, but there were some that had the words "Tax" and "Agreement" on them. It felt like another hour went by for them all to be explained.

Jiu was feeling the effects of jet lag heavily by the time she was asked to sign. She managed it. As she finished, she looked back into Charlotte's eyes. For the last few months, Jiu had paid extra close attention to people's behavior and was getting good at figuring out what they were feeling. But now, the intense eyes of the woman who owned her didn't give her the slightest inclination about her emotions. Jiu barely felt at ease knowing how close all was to being done, but the look Charlotte gave her sent her right back into a confusing spiral.


	2. Part 2

The sound of the embassy car pulling away kept Jiu fixated on the window. She stood with her suitcase in hand, watching through the curtain until Woo-jin, Eunyeong, and the driver were out of sight. She let out a sigh, but quietly.

When she eventually turned around, she saw Charlotte sitting on the couch with a laptop on the coffee table. Next to it, the information for the transfer bank account. She had a grin plastered on her face and her eyes were glistening like she was right on the verge of bursting into tears.

Some clicks here and there later, Charlotte leaned back, punching at the air. She chuckled and wiped at her eyes. When she saw Jiu looking at her though, she went back to a neutral expression. 

With no words, she looked Jiu up and down. She stood, walked to her bedroom, and came back out with a pillow and a stack of blankets.

"It's been getting pretty chilly at night. Do you think three will be warm enough for you? You're kind of, uhm, skinny," she said as she tossed them all onto the couch.

Jiu only nodded.

Charlotte nodded back slowly, expectantly. But there was only silence.

"Well then. Why don't you tell me what you can do? I guess I should have asked this earlier but I was, uh, blinded by the money I guess. What skills do you have?"

Jiu couldn't get out of that one with a nod. "I'm a singer and dancer. We're entertainers. I can... perform for you if you want."

Charlotte stared back and gave a crooked smile. "Yyyeah, a one on one living room musical number. That won't be super awkward."

Jiu set down her suitcase and cleared her throat, "I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to warm up. Do you have a song already?"

Charlotte walked around to the other side of the coffee table and put her hand on Jiu's arm. Jiu flinched hard, but if Charlotte noticed, she didn't act like it happened. "I'm sorry, I was joking. No singing right now, yeah?"

Jiu was tense all over. Charlotte's touch felt like it burned, but Jiu didn't dare to move away. It was a light, friendly touch though, just like Yoohyeon's or Handong's.

"I'm sorry," Jiu said slowly. 

"Hey, it's fine," Charlotte sounded friendly too, "You know, I bet you're just jet lagged. You tired? Oh, actually, how long was your flight? When did you get in?" ... if a bit erratic, like a few other people Jiu knew.

Jiu nodded. "We arrived at nine thirty. I'm very tired."

Charlotte's touch turned into a grip and she carefully pulled Jiu toward the couch. The grip was tight enough to move her, but wasn't forceful. Even so, Jiu felt the same burn.

"Well hey, let's get you down for a nap. I won't let you sleep too long, but you sure seem like you need it. I can get us something to eat. You want anything special?"

Jiu couldn't disagree about needing the sleep. The moment she sat down she felt her eyes close on their own and it took her a bit to open them back up. 

When she did reopen her eyes, Jiu wasn't sitting on the couch. She wasn't even in Charlotte's apartment. She was on a stage. There was sound equipment, and all of the stage lights were on. Other than that, it looked empty.

Jiu looked around, confused. It wasn't right. This part of her life was supposed to be over. She looks down and saw that she's wearing an outfit from an old performance. The black one, with the red fabric cuts, from the Good Night era. Except that the cuts didn't look like they had fabric underneath, there's just blood on her skin.

She panicked, trying to wipe away the blood. She didn't feel any pain, so it couldn't be hers. It wouldn't go away. A line of dark red flames shot away from beneath her feet. She feels a scream coming from her throat and about to burst from it.

She didn't scream. Instead, she heard Charlotte's voice.

"Much better. Sing for me."

Jiu sang. Quietly at first, while she tried to remember the words. She struggled with that. She could hear the melody in her head, and she knew she was singing something, but it just didn't make sense, even though she knew the song. She raised her voice. All she knew for sure was that for a fraction of a second, her voice cracked.

Charlotte walked out of the darkness. Her eyes were fixed on Jiu's. The spaces in her weren't right. She approached Jiu, step by agonizingly slow step. The song was only about half done, and still there was no music.

Jiu sang until Charlotte was inches away from her face, and kept going. And she cracked again.

Jiu couldn't react fast enough. She couldn't react at all. Charlotte's eyes grew to twice their size, wild, and she snapped forward, slamming Jiu into the floor by her throat. Jiu tries to keep singing. She could hear her voice coming out through the sudden pain in her neck, and over, or maybe under, Charlotte's screaming. 

"You think you're worth something don't you?! Stupid Korean! I'll rip that out! Die useless! Useless!"

Jiu feels her throat caving in under the strangling hands, despite still hearing herself sing. Her vision started to go dark, and she barely sees all of Charlotte's teeth sharpening and growing between screams. She choked one last time before everything faded to the sound of a creaking door.

Charlotte closed the apartment door. She had a plastic bag in one hand and a jingling key ring in the other. Something smelled good.

Jiu could still feel pain in her throat, and it was no wonder. She had a blanket pulled tightly around her neck, gripped by none other than her own hands. She quickly let go and pushed the blanket away, coughing.

"Oh, hey, you okay? You didn't catch something on the flight, did you?"

That definitely wasn't it. Jiu needed a second to come to her senses and realize that she wasn't on stage, or singing, or burning, or dying, or whatever else she might have just thought. She coughed once more, and answered, "No, I just... I think I fell asleep with my neck bent in a bad way."

"Damn, that sucks. But hey, I hope you're feeling awake now. I looked you up on some old website and it said you liked kimbap so I ran out to get some. Pretty sure it said beef, but I got a different one for me, so pick whichever one you like."

As the bag was set down on the coffee table, Jiu noticed a few things. Her shoes were on the floor near the door. She had two blankets on her, lightly tucked around her. Her glasses were on the table too, along with a blue sticky note.

Charlotte poked through the bag and sighed. "This place used to be so good, but they're forgetting everything these days. Uh, hang on. Go ahead and pick one," she said as she stood back up and went into the kitchen.

In the bag, Jiu could see the food through the plastic lids. Kimbap wasn't her favorite but it's not like she didn't like it, and she definitely wasn't going to mention it.

"Thank you, Ms. Jenkins."

"Oh geez. Don't call me that Jiu, that's super weird. Just call me Charlotte."

Jiu pulled the containers out of the bag. Two kimbaps, one with beef and one with pork, several little sauce holders, and nothing to eat it all with. She flipped the bag inside out, but it was definitely empty.

Then, two pairs of metal chopsticks lowered onto one of the boxes. Charlotte sat down on the floor on the opposite side of the table. She rubbed her hands together and started pulling off the sauce lids. Jiu took one of the chopstick pairs, but otherwise waited.

Halfway through the sauces, Charlotte glanced up and smirked. "Go ahead and get started, unless you're looking for a specific topping that hasn't been opened yet."

Jiu grabbed the beef kimbap and immediately started to eat. Charlotte smiled a little more warmly and went back to opening the sauces.


	3. Part 3

Jiu and Charlotte stood in a beautifully decorated model condo. The complex manager walked around, explaining how great of a value it was. Jiu still wasn't quite used to the new currency, and she didn't know anything about housing costs, but based on the looks Charlotte was giving her when the manager turned away, she assumed the features of this place were being hyped up a little more than they were actually worth.

When the manager reached down to flick on a plug-in air freshener, Charlotte caught Jiu's attention. She rolled her eyes back and stuck her tongue out, pretending to gag hard. Jiu was caught off guard and slapped her hand over her mouth to hold in her laugh.

"Sorry, did you say something?" the manager asked, standing up and looking back over her shoulder.

Charlotte responded right away, "Oh, no, I just tripped. This carpet is almost too plush!"

The manager smirked and glanced at Jiu. "Yes, isn't it so amazingly soft? Here, let me show you the master closest."

The two followed her into the master bedroom, which was quite impressive on its own. Charlotte nudged Jiu on the way in, and wagged her finger next to her ear. "I think crazy," she said, out loud, in choppy Korean.

Jiu didn't think much of it, but she felt a little warm. She might have laughed again, if not for the unexpected language switch.

"Oh my, bilingual young professional ladies? What was that? Japanese?"

"Korean," Charlotte corrected.

The manager swung around to glare at Jiu. Jiu felt herself shrink back instinctively.

"I was just telling her that I smelled shit," Charlotte spoke as the lady's mouth started to open, "I'm not sure if, uh, you need to check yourself or what, but we've been smelling it since you stood up. She said we should wait it out but it's seriously unbearable. We're out. You might, ummm, want to see a doctor."

Jiu watched the manager's offended expression deepen while Charlotte grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward the exit.

"EXCU-"

Charlotte cut her off again, shouting back from the hallway, "Seriously, just use the bathroom in there! I'll email you a list of gastroenterologists!"

Jiu wasn't sure she understood several of the last few words.

Charlotte laughed the whole drive home. 

It was the fourth day the two were together. After her nightmare, things were pretty much normal. Charlotte seemed to be making an effort at getting Jiu comfortable. Not just with "this whole slavery thing," like Charlotte called it, but also with living in America. The food wasn't too weird, but it took some getting used to. The language wasn't a problem, unless someone was speaking too quickly. Jiu was eager to sleep in a real bed again, but the couch wasn't bad.

All in all, Jiu was starting to feel alright about the situation. She was almost excited for the rest of her members to arrive.

The other members were probably getting their medical needs handled about then. Jiu remembered how nervous she was when she was at that point.

"Charlotte?" Jiu asked as they got out of the car.

"Yeah?"

"May I call the other Dreamcatcher members?"

Charlotte gave her a confused look."Uh, yeah. Haven't you been talking to them since you got here?"

"No. My phone is still locked."

"Ah, gotcha. Well no problem. Let's head in and you can just borrow mine. I think I still have Kakao installed if that's what you use."

Jiu might have been more comfortable at that point, but not comfortable enough to remind Charlotte that she had to unlock the phone herself, since she now owned it. It was in the contract.

Inside, Charlotte did exactly what she said she would. Once Jiu remembered her password, her call was almost immediately picked up. It was Sua.

It had been a while since Jiu had seen Sua cry. And now, hearing it over the phone made Jiu tear up too. Sua didn't cry over just anything. Jiu did her best to make Sua feel better, to understand that their situation wasn't all that bad. In fact, she embellished a little, making it seem perhaps a little better than it was. She started regretting the timing of the call though, as she heard Sua waking up everyone else in the dorm to relay the messages. It was well past midnight in Seoul, and Sua must have been the only one still awake. Jiu could imagine why. It was only two days before they were going to be leaving home.

Eventually, Jiu told them all to get back in bed. No point in exhausting themselves right before an extremely long, miserable flight. She found herself smiling, feeling like she had to have done well as a leader, lifting her members' spirits. At the very least, by the upbeat tones of their voices, it sounded like they were going to sleep well.

Charlotte leaned over Jiu's shoulder from behind the couch. She chuckled, "They all sound like a bunch of fun. I like the way Sua pronounces the letter A."

Jiu snickered back and handed Charlotte's phone to her. Her hand was immediately refilled with another, her own.

"I double checked the contract while you were busy there. I technically own that phone now, but as far as I'm concerned it's still yours. Besides, slave laws say that it's illegal for me to prevent you from contacting family or emergency contacts, so, uh, you don't need to ask or anything from now on."

Jiu took her phone from Charlotte's hand, and she felt grateful. But there was something... wrong? For a second, Jiu thought Charlotte did something with it. Bugged it? No. She couldn't explain it to herself, but something was wrong.

"Thank you, master," Jiu turned around, and saw an uncomfortable look on Charlotte's face.

"Woah there girl. Awkward. If you don't like Charlotte you can call me Shar or something."

Jiu nodded, but didn't say anything more. She wasn't sure why she'd even said that.

Charlotte licked her lips and turned into the kitchen. "Aaanyway, I noticed you're out of clean clothes," she said over her shoulder, "I can go ahead and throw your stuff in the wash if you want to get a shower. The water heater here doesn't mess around."

That snapped Jiu out of whatever she was in. "I should. The last place smelled bad," she said, hoping to sound like she was making fun of the last apartment manager. It worked.

"Ha, right? Dumb racists."

Jiu smiled. Charlotte did defend her earlier, sort of. And she'd been so accommodating. Whatever Jiu was thinking was wrong, it could wait.

The hot water ran through Jiu's hair, and seemed to pull the worries along with it. The shampoo Charlotte had gotten her yesterday felt incredibly smooth. The soap she had on hand made Jiu's skin a little dry, but it smelled incredible. All in all, it was euphoric. Until the sound of the door opening made her jump.

"Hey, I hope you don't mind that I'm washing everything together. I didn't see any special instructions on the tags, but my Korean is a little rusty."

Jiu didn't know how to react. She tried to muster up to say anything, but the door closed again. It seemed that Charlotte wasn't looking for a response. Jiu took a deep breath. She definitely wasn't ready for her owner to see her naked. But, what if it was inevitable? Would it matter? Would Charlotte think it mattered?

Jiu let the breath out as a whisper, "It's okay."

But what she meant was okay, she wasn't sure.

A few minutes later she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. The door looked like it was a mile away. She reached out, and missed the handle once, twice, again. She shook her head and stepped forward, finding it only took a couple of steps, as expected. Maybe she just needed to get her eyes checked again.

The door opened slowly, creaking just enough to give Jiu goosebumps. A second went by before she realized she wasn't the one opening it. Frantically, Jiu went to lift her towel, and realized she left it on the edge of the sink. She didn't get to it in time.

In the doorway stood a totally deadpan Charlotte, holding a bundle of clothes. "I really should have thought ahead about this. Could have done a load yesterday," she said, seemingly ignoring Jiu, besides of course the direct eye contact. She held the clothes out. "Might be a little big on you."

Jiu took the clothes with steady hands. She had to try to act like she wasn't screaming inside, like she didn't feel vulnerable to her owner. She subtly covered herself with the bundle, where she could.

But Charlotte didn't just walk away and close the door. In fact, just the opposite. As she took a step into the bathroom, Jiu suddenly remembered her nightmare, and felt herself starting to shake. She became acutely aware, now confronted with the definitely not-a-dream version of her, that Charlotte was slightly taller than herself. 

The terror that she felt in that one step twisted around into something else when Charlotte turned and hopped to sit on the sink's ledge. Her silhouette was pretty.

"So I was thinking. Do you think the other girls might want to take a look at the apartments? Uh, have some say in which one we pick?"

Jiu shuddered, and quickly flipped the clothes around in her hand to see what could be put on quickly. "I think they would like that," she responded, hoping that her voice wasn't as shaky as her fingers. "Do... do you think we could all fit in the living room though?" She had two pieces. A pair of short shorts and a large shirt.

"Probably not, and we'd need to grab like an air mattress or two and move the coffee table, but two or three of you could stay in my room. It's only a couple of nights."

Jiu got the shirt on first. It reached down to her mid thigh, and she sighed a little louder than she intended. Charlotte seemed not to notice. "Are you sure? We don't want to take your personal space."

Charlotte lightly slapped Jiu's arm. "No, it's fine. We're going to be living it up pretty good soon. What's a couple nights of a sleepover?"

The shorts were easier to put on, considering how much less urgent they felt.

"If you're okay with it, I know the others would appreciate it."

Charlotte hopped back down and walked into the living room, and Jiu thought she would be relieved, but the tension in her body didn't lessen. She took some steps to follow, and the shorts nearly fell off of her.

The rest of the night was more like the previous few days. The two talked about whatever happened to come to mind and eventually got tired. Charlotte went to her room and Jiu stayed on the couch, wrapping herself up with the blankets. She briefly thought about how she was still wearing Charlotte's clothes, but decided not to worry about it. She was seeing their relationship as a pretty friendly one and was sure Charlotte would agree at that point. Right?

Jiu felt herself jolt awake. She didn't remember the moment she fell asleep, but she touched at her neck. It was a little sore in the front. She could have sworn she was in one of the private practice rooms at the Dreamcatcher company's office. But she blinks a few times and realizes it must have been her imagination. She was still at Charlotte's apartment of course.

Either way, a sheet of music was on the desk in front of her. She leaned over it to take a look. It looked familiar, but the font is so strange, and tough to read. Jiu shook her head and got started. She got through a line, but when she tried the next, the words didn't seem to connect. There was a line in between that she missed.

A few times she tries again, but she keeps missing something. Annoyed, she groans at the ceiling. When she looked back down, the walls were closer. She became a little suspicious.

She turned around when she heard the door close behind her. Charlotte was in her practice room, resting her shoulder against the door.

Jiu jumped back and bumped into the desk. She could already feel her neck burning. "No!" she shouted, surprising herself even, "This is a nightmare, I don't have to be here!"

Charlotte held her hands to either side, looking like she was coming in for a hug, but she didn't move. "Oh, no, Jiu. This isn't a nightmare. Do I look so scary to you?"

Jiu feels at the wall behind her, for another door or window. She could still feel pain in her throat but she couldn't say Charlotte looked scary.

"That's right, I just look like another girl your age. This is just a perfectly normal dream. You're still exhausted. Let me take care of you."

The offer couldn't be refused. The room closes in even more, and Jiu stepped forward into Charlotte's arms. Her breath caught in her throat over and over and over. She couldn't move. But Charlotte's arms closed around her, and she feels warm.

A creeping feeling rose up her spine. It was like a physical version of the feeling she had when she was awake.

"I can feel that, you know," Charlotte whispered in her ear, "What is it, Jiu?"

Their contact was suddenly broken and Jiu felt Charlotte behind her, pulling up her shirt. She tried to move her hands to stop it but it was already gone and Jiu was exposed again. Her hands wouldn't move to cover herself.

"What are you doing?" she managed to ask. Her voice fell out of her mouth like syrup.

"I'm taking care of my toys."

Jiu's back was full of knives. She looked and sees Charlotte digging her nails in and scratching upward. It felt much worse than it looked. Jiu fell to her knees and her owner's shadow covered everything she could see in front of her.

The pain throbbed through Jiu's body. But as soon as it starts, it disappears, and Charlotte's hands wrap around her stomach from behind. Whatever the creeping feeling was before, it was gone with the pain. But even so, the hands on her ribs make her think she would be breaking out in a cold sweat if she were awake, or maybe she actually was sweating in her sleep.

Fingers trace up Jiu's sides and ever so slowly around her breasts. Jiu's breaths come faster and faster. She knew this was a dream, no, a nightmare. She could stop this, it wasn't righ-

"No, no, Jiu. Don't you see? This," the hands squeezed, making Jiu gasp, "this isn't what's wrong."

The practice room door swung open on its own. Jiu would have covered her mouth in shock but her arms still wouldn't move. On the other side, Siyeon and Handong stood with their arms wrapped around each other, and kissing passionately. The door swings shut again, but Jiu doesn't stop thinking about what she just saw in that brief instant.

"You see? Nothing wrong. If you ask nicely I'll make them do that for you when you're awake too."

Jiu is pushed down, until her head touches the floor. She ground her teeth, afraid of what would come next. The hands groping at her release and drag their fingernails, their claws around, past her nipples and sides, and down her back. Trails of fire, all the way. Jiu whimpered and curled her toes. It's all she could do.

"You know what the problem is, Jiu? Your very own expectations."

Jiu expected to feel... something. But she didn't. She felt warm. She felt wrapped up. She felt awake.

She carefully tried to move her arms. They moved without trouble. She pushed herself up. She had been doubled over on her knees, with her face in the pillow. The microwave clock over the counter said it was 3:26 AM.

With a groan, Jiu flopped onto her back. Just as she thought, a nightmare. Right?

As she adjusted herself back around to try and get back to sleep, her leg brushed past something cold that gave her a little shock. She sat back up and felt around where it was, and was immediately relieved that is was as deep in the middle of the night as it was. There was a wet patch.


	4. Part 4

Jiu was getting restless.

She had hidden the wet spot on the couch with a blanket, and that seemed to work out fine. But the following night, Jiu knew she was going to have a problem. She couldn't sleep.

At first she thought she was going to have trouble sleeping because she was expecting another dream. No, nightmare. But as she thought about it and why she couldn't sleep, the memory of the nightmare came back in full force and she felt herself starting to get wet again. Twice, she threw the blankets off and (quietly) stormed to the bathroom to (angrily) wipe off.

Even when she eventually fell asleep, it wasn't restful, but at least it was dreamless. She woke up with a gasp, disheveled as hell, to the smell of eggs and bacon.

Charlotte looked over the counter at her with a crooked, kind of concerned smile. "Damn Jiu, rough night?"

Jiu looked around. The blankets were crumpled up in a hundred directions, her pillow was under the coffee table, and the couch cushions under her were hanging about halfway off the frame.

"Y-yeah."

They ate, Jiu fixed her rat's nest of hair, and they left the house. The day before, they had gone around town to shop for the equipment they would need to vlog. Today they were actually going to buy everything.

Charlotte had been good at keeping Jiu in a good mood. She joked around, taught her new curse words, sang along to the radio despite being a fairly bad singer, and generally continued to act like a friend. She was still good at it. There was no shortage of laughter for the entire day, up until they got home.

The two of them tore into packaging for the cameras and lighting stands. Halfway through, Jiu mentioned that she was hungry. That was when trouble struck again.

"So am I," Charlotte said, patting her stomach, "We still need to get some air mattresses too. What, uh, what time is it?"

Jiu checked, "It's two thirty," she felt slightly proud of herself for the quick response. A couple of days ago, she had nearly said the time in Korean.

"Ah, yeah I guess we kind of skipped lunch. I think I'll just order something for us. Do you want burgers?"

"Yes!"

Charlotte laughed and stood up. "Alright, give me a minute I'll see what's good nearby."

Jiu was smiling, but it faded as Charlotte started looking through her phone. Did Charlotte think all she was good for was helping shop and telling time?

"I personally like Carl's Jr. but there's also a Burger King that's closer."

What did Charlotte think she was here for?

"But BK is pretty boring. I guess I could go with Five Guys. Not like I'm too worried about the cost now."

Jiu grabbed an unpacked camera and stood up.

"Yeah, they're super good. What do you--"

Jiu's eyes met Charlotte's from across the room just as she let go of the camera.

"What the fuck?"

The DSLR hit the floor. It didn't explode or shatter or even make an especially loud noise. It landed on carpet after all.

Charlotte looked at the camera and back up. The two stared into each other's eyes for what felt to Jiu like several minutes. Jiu could feel her cheeks turning deeper red than her hair probably ever was.

"Seriously Jiu, the fuck?" Charlotte started crossing the room, and Jiu's breath quickened.

As soon as Charlotte bent down to grab the camera though, Jiu dived to get it first, and she tossed it back at the coffee table. That time it made a cracking sound.

Jiu on her hands and knees, and Charlotte hunched over the top of her, Jiu still held eye contact. She was shaking though.

"I'm your slave, right?"

The only response she got was silence.

"Aren't you supposed to punish a slave?"

"Holy shit, Jiu, come on," Charlotte rolled her eyes and moved to stand back up.

Jiu pushed herself off the floor and shoved Charlotte, who fell back onto the linoleum floor of the kitchen.

She may have been angry, over what she couldn't quite put into words even though she realized she may have just made a blundered attempt at saying it out loud, but suddenly the anger was replaced with fear. She stood up fully, and so did Charlotte. She saw the hand coming toward her face, and she closed her eyes, but she fought back the instinct to put her hands up to defend herself.

The crack was louder than the camera hitting any surface. Jiu's eyes shot open and she staggered back from the hot, stinging pain on her cheek. She knew Charlotte had a fair bit more weight to her, but she definitely wasn't expecting so much power behind the swing. She imagined she would have broken some bone if it wasn't an open handed slap. But regardless of the physical, and admittedly excruciating pain she was in, her emotions calmed way, way down.

And immediately flared back up, in a different way.

Jiu touched her burning cheek tenderly with one hand. She had broken eye contact of course, and was staring down at the camera, but mostly through it because she didn't really intend to look at anything in particular. Her other hand drifted on its own down to her shorts.

"Jiu!"

She froze. She slowly lifted her head up to where she could see Charlotte. The sight of her fuming was terrifying and slightly exciting.

Charlotte though, seemed not to be having any of it, as she walked briskly into her bedroom and slammed the door shut so hard Jiu felt the vibration in the floor. Only then did her sudden excitement and pleasure fade back into fear.

"Wait... wait, Charlotte, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She ran the short distance to the bedroom door. It was already locked. She smacked at it a couple times. "Please! I'm sorry! I don't know what I'm doing, I'm sorry!"

"What the actual fuck do you think you're doing?! You push me over and masturbate in my living room?!"

Jiu didn't even know that word in English, but she had a pretty good guess. And assuming she was right, nothing Charlotte was screaming through the door was wrong. Jiu felt a kind of shame she didn't even know existed. She leaned against the door and tried to stammer back a response, but she couldn't get past a couple of words.

Suddenly she lurched forward as the door was unlocked and swung open. She stumbled right into Charlotte's hands, which grabbed onto her shirt and shoved her back. Jiu managed to stay upright, but she was still being bull rushed backward. When her back hit the edge of the kitchen counter, one of Charlotte's arms wrapped around her head and she was pulled into what she guessed was the angriest possible... kiss?

Charlotte's face was in her way so she couldn't exactly what was going on, but the searing pain in her lower lip made her guess that Charlotte was biting it. Ecstasy absolutely took her over, and her legs went weak to where the hand pressing her against the counter was possibly all that kept her from being on the floor. She had just enough of a mind left to wonder why this was happening, because this was definitely not a nightmare.

"W-why?" Jiu managed to quietly stutter.

Charlotte backed off of her face, and Jiu had no time to react to another slap. It wasn't nearly as hard as the first one, but it was in the same spot, and somehow it made her melt even more.

"This is what you like?"

Another slap.

"This is what you wanted?"

Another, this time on the other side of her face.

"These few days you've been acting like a friend but you're just here for your perverted fantasy?!"

Jiu's eyes were already tearing up on their own in response to the pain, but she could still see Charlotte's raging face. "What," she whispered, "But I'm just your--"

"A person? Shut the fuck up! If you think I'm in this because I felt like owning slaves, you're just wrong! I need money! What you seem to be into? That shit is illegal. And I thought maybe you would appreciate being treated like equals, since I can't even imagine why you'd do this to yourself willingly!"

Charlotte backed away and Jiu slid to the floor, ignoring the much more uncomfortable pain of her back scraping the edge of the counter. She pulled her knees to her chest and stared at Charlotte's feet. She watched them fidget while she wracked her brain. She actually did expect the worst out of this woman. She'd been expecting it so long now...

"I'm sorry," Jiu finally said, "Y-you're right. You've been so nice and all I want from you is... I w-wanted to have an owner. I don't know why. They barely gave us a choice."

Charlotte knelt down, coming to eye level. She grabbed the top of Jiu's head and pointed it in her direction. She kept her eyes on Jiu's. "Then tell me why you've been acting like such a shit when I'm trying to help you."

Jiu tried to look away a couple of times, but Charlotte moved her head back. Jiu couldn't prevent admitting this to her anymore, so she figured she had to admit it to herself.

"I... I accepted it. I believed I could help, and... I started believing that I was best as a slave, not a singer, or a dancer."

"So, what? You think you're helping South Korea by getting hit?" Charlotte let go of Jiu's hair, but not without a tiny shove.

"No. It was when... w-when I met you."

Charlotte huffed and stood up, "Oh, so I gave you the abusive vibe huh? Real nice."

Jiu crawled forward and grabbed Charlotte's ankle, feeling more tears coming on. "No! That's the opposite! I met you a-and you were what I didn't think you would be. I was scared, and you made me feel better, but something about you m-made me want you to be..."

She trailed off the last few words, coming down to a whisper. What did she just say? What was she getting at?

She looked up into Charlotte's eyes. There was confusion, the same as Jiu had been feeling the past few days.

"You want me to be what?" The towering woman sounded as confused as she looked.

Jiu grabbed onto the leg in front of her with both hands, trying to be soft, but it was obvious how needy she looked down on the floor. "I don't... I don't know. I love that you've been so nice, but I've been h-having these dreams. You do things to me and... when I wake up I think about it and for some reason I want more of it. I c-can't explain it right."

Charlotte's leg tensed up, and Jiu pulled herself onto it, wrapping around it as if... she didn't know what she could call it. She didn't really even know what it was she was so desperate for. "I promise! I won't be weird anymore. I won't expect you to be s-something you're not! I'm so sorry! I'm not being realistic!" She was crying by the end of it. She couldn't imagine this being a good thing now, turning into a pathetic mess, a kid throwing a tantrum.

"Jiu... I, uh. I don't know what to say about all that," the response came, and Jiu felt the leg relax, "I think we need to calm down. Go lay down, kay?"

Jiu immediately let go and backed up. She'd left a smear of makeup on Charlotte's knee.

Charlotte turned around slowly and went back to her room, shutting the door much more slowly this time. Jiu went to the couch, wrapping herself in blankets.

Far too much time went by. Jiu's thoughts raced. The mental image she had of Charlotte - the one that attacked her in her dreams - stood laughing on the backs of her eyelids, telling her she was going to go back to Korea, embarrassed and an utter failure. Jiu tried to blink her away, having realized by then that wasn't the real Charlotte. It was just herself, and she was trying to force her fears and her fantasies to take that shape. Charlotte was her owner, at least by law, if not by her personal choice. She shouldn't make those assumptions about someone who held nearly absolute power over her, she thought.

But maybe that wasn't going to be the case much longer.

"Get up."


	5. Chapter 5

Jiu lowered the blankets from around her head. Charlotte stood over the couch, arms crossed, but eyes soft. Jiu sat up, and gasped as Charlotte leaned down, slowly wrapping a hand around her neck. One knee landed on the couch next to Jiu's lap and she felt the choking pressure being applied surprisingly carefully.

"Look. I'm going to give you exactly what you want, okay? Don't expect, like, too much. But I'm going to pull owner privileges here too. I don't give a shit about you being my slave. This isn't something I'm doing for me but I'm going to make the best of it. So here's the deal. Never, ever call me 'master' or 'mistress' or any of that. Don't call yourself my slave, not to me. You're just Jiu to me."

Jiu couldn't help but smile, even as it got hard to breathe.

"And I'm going to use you to get all of my own shit off my back. I want you to take it all and I want you to love it. And when I'm done, we're roommates. We're friends. We talk like friends do. Equals, even if I own you on paper. Just, like you said, don't be weird, got it?"

Doing the best she could to nod, Jiu felt more relaxed than she had in maybe a year. Even when a hand flew up her shirt and pinched her nipple like a vice grip, her scream of shock being half muffled by the choking, she knew she could move on with her life, somehow happier.

Charlotte winced slightly at the scream and slapped a hand over Jiu's mouth, but she smiled too. "Oh my gosh, dude, we still have neighbors."

Jiu took a deep breath through her nose and giggled. A strange contrast to her tear-filled eyes and running makeup. She lifted her hands to touch Charlotte's cheeks.

Charlotte removed her hands from Jiu for a moment, just long enough to set her other leg on the couch and press her body against Jiu's. She supported herself with the back of the couch and lowered her face, so they were millimeters apart.

"Thank you... I promise," Jiu whispered, letting her tongue hang out inappropriately for such a statement.

It had the effect Jiu hoped for. Charlotte's lips locked with hers. They spent more time like that than Jiu could believe, tongues and hands exploring each other. Jiu hadn't really touched Charlotte until then, and she enjoyed it, a lot. She grabbed and stroked around, trying to learn every bit of her owner.

Eventually, Charlotte ended the kiss by grabbing Jiu's shoulders and pushing her into the couch, hard. Jiu's vision went blurry for a second, but came back to let her see Charlotte yanking off her shirt. Jiu rose back up to reach around and unclasp the bra too. She managed to get it but she was immediately slammed back down, almost between the couch cushions.

Charlotte held onto her bra with one hand, the other on Jiu's chest. "What are you so greedy for, huh Jiu?"

Jiu smiled and lowered her eyes to stare at Charlotte's barely covered, and unexpectedly big tits. They were definitely bigger than her own. She thought for about half a second that they might be almost as big as Serri's, but size didn't matter since these were the ones she was about to get her hands on. For one glorious moment her fingertips slipped under the fabric and felt the soft skin, but in a flash of movement her wrists were being held above her head.

The bra slid down Charlotte's arms until it hit Jiu, who looked hungrily at the nipples just out of reach of her mouth. She pouted and looked up into Charlotte's eyes.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. Wordlessly she lifted Jiu's head by her chin and guided her forward so the two met and Jiu could finally taste her body.

While she sucked at the only nipple she could reach, Jiu felt a hand sliding down her front and grabbing the base of her shirt. She realized that it wasn't going to be the first time Charlotte had seen her naked body, but it still made her heart flutter. She separated her lips from the beauty in time for her shirt to be lifted over her head. She hadn't been wearing a bra, so she was immediately, totally exposed. She was about to get started with her mouth again when Charlotte hopped off, lifted her up, and threw her onto her stomach.

Then there was a pressure on her back. Jiu looked back to see that Charlotte had climbed on to of her, straddling the small of her back, but was facing backwards. She started to freeze up again. It wasn't fear though, it was anticipation.

Charlotte snaked both her hands in under the waistband of Jiu's shorts. She squeezed each of the globes of Jiu's ass, flesh on flesh contact that gave Jiu enormous goosebumps. Jiu moaned, shoved her face into the couch, kicked her feet up and down, and grabbed at Charlotte's thighs.

"Something tells me you're going to enjoy this too much for it to be a punishment."

"I..." Jiu couldn't find words when Charlotte pushed her shorts down.

Her ass fully on display, Jiu was suddenly happy for the fact that she was face down, so Charlotte couldn't see her intense blushing. It was made worse as Charlotte rubbed, groped, and kneaded into it. Jiu frantically grabbed the pillow in front of her and mashed her face into it, where she felt slightly more comfortable with her pained but lewd groans.

Charlotte shifted a few inches, until she was on top of Jiu's ribcage. She was heavy, but she seemed to be holding her own weight up enough for Jiu to breathe, mostly without trouble. But far more interesting to Jiu at that moment than her ability to breath was the notably cold section left on the small of her back that Charlotte had just left. It was definitely as if something wet was there, rapidly cooling down. It made Jiu heat up.

When the first spank came down, Jiu wasn't sure how to react. It stung. It hurt. She wanted more. She got it. A second strike came down on the other side. Jiu only squeaked into the pillow and stared ahead, not at anything in particular.

"Oh, uh. Yeah, I guess you do like this huh?"

Jiu hadn't realized it, but reflexively she had lifted her ass in anticipation of more. She was being half crushed on top, but her knees could push into the couch to present herself.

Charlotte grabbed either side of the butt that was begging her and massaged in deeply with her thumbs. "I'd give you a few more, but I have a confession to make."

"Wh-what?" Jiu tried to look back.

"I think I, uh, went a little too hard when I slapped you earlier. My hand really hurts."

Jiu felt bad, but she couldn't help a small giggle. And when Charlotte got off her back and flipped her over, she wasn't sure whether to regret that or not. Charlotte's eyes looked angry, but her tongue was stuck out of one side of her mouth, and bitten down on by her smile. Jiu's giggle turned into a laugh, and she pushed herself up to go in for a kiss.

She got pushed roughly back down to the couch.

"Oooh. So you think you get to kiss me after laughing at my pain?" Charlotte asked, clearly restraining a bit of laughter, herself. Jiu had to literally bite her lip.

Charlotte unbuttoned her jeans. "Maybe I'll let you kiss me if you stop." The pants started lowering.

Jiu slapped a hand over her mouth. It probably wasn't needed, as she was instantly hypnotized by the slowly revealing skin, but she didn't want to take chances with that offer on the line.

She was fascinated. Charlotte's skin was so smooth, everywhere. Jiu had gotten waxes before, but nothing quite as thorough. It made her hungry again. She slipped off the couch until she was on her knees in front of Charlotte, looking up into her eyes. She inched forward, mouth just open enough to show what she was planning to do, hands placed on Charlotte's thighs.

When she hit home, Jiu knew she was right where she wanted to be. She reached out with her tongue and stroked, using her whole head for the motion. She nearly lost her sense of hearing as Charlotte's thighs closed around her ears, but looking up Jiu could watch as Charlotte moaned and doubled over with bliss.

Jiu stayed latched on pretty well, but as she got clamped harder, she got to the point where she could only really work with her tongue. Although this was new to Jiu, the concept for what she was doing had been explained to her before, so she had some thoughts on how to do it. If Charlotte's shuddering reactions were any indication, she wasn't doing too poorly.

The two of them eventually wound up flipped around, with Charlotte on the couch, one leg over the back of it and the other leg over the back of Jiu. Jiu hung halfway off the couch, still attached by the lips to her newest source of joy, with one hand on her clit and the other groping whatever part of Charlotte it could reach. That's where Charlotte exploded.

A couple handfuls worth of Jiu's hair came close to being pulled out. Charlotte's breath stopped for a few agonizingly long seconds. Not that Jiu's breath did any better, given that her entire face was being smashed against a gushing pussy. Charlotte gasped and her death grip loosened. Jiu came up gasping too.

Jiu felt her arms being grabbed and yanked upward, landing her squarely on top of Charlotte. Every part of them was mashed together, somewhere between pleasantly and unbearably hot. Her head was held next to Charlotte's.

"Guh... oh shit, Jiu. Stay here for a minute. So... so good." She sounded like she had just run five miles.

Charlotte pulled Jiu over for a few wild, messy, possibly incoherent kisses and then pushed her right back into the pillow. Their arms naturally wrapped around each other tightly. The rough treatment made Jiu giggle. She nuzzled herself into Charlotte's neck and kissed it.

"No, uh... no punishment for you anymore. You get a reward instead."

Jiu lifted her head to look into Charlotte's eyes. They were tired looking, but Jiu imagined hers were the same. She spoke before thinking, because it worked pretty well for her earlier, "Can the reward be a punishment?"

Punctuating her question though, was an intensely loud rumbling noise. Both of the women's eyes opened wide, suddenly very awake and aware, though their naked bodies were still covered in the sweat of their exhaustion.

"How about lunch for your reward?"

Jiu wasn't sure if her blush would be noticable, considering her whole body was probably some deeper shade of red than normal. But she still smiled as Charlotte laughed and pulled the hug even tighter.

After some calming down, the two of them sat up, still giggling occasionally and feeling each other up.

Charlotte bent over to get her phone out of her pants pocket (Jiu of course took advantage of this to do more feeling), and gasped again. Jiu recognized it as a gasp of shock this time. She thought to ask what was wrong but she could see the phone's screen. It was definitely past lunch time. But possibly more importantly, and definitely more frightening, was a text message from Woo-jin.

"We're leaving the embassy now. The rest of Dreamcatcher is very exciting to meet you Ms. Jenkins!"

The text had been sent sixteen minutes earlier.


	6. Part ???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to get creeptastic.

Siyeon sat in the hallway of a clinic. It was bright. It was quiet. It was empty. It was normally rezerved for politicians and their families. It was frustrating. It was boring.

She let out a long sigh. "Why isn't Sua here?" she asked herself out loud. Sua could have entertained her.

"I sure could!"

Siyeon grined and looked to the side. Sua's voice was unmistakable. Instantly, she felt her spirits lifting.

The hallway was empty.

An even bigger grin crossed Siyeon's face. This wouldn't be the first time Sua had tricked her, but this one was good.

She stood up and looked from side to side. It had sounded lyke Sua was close, but this hallway was twenty feet long in both directions. But there were doors, of course!

The closest door had to be it. The crazy bitch must have snuck in before Siyeon even got there! Impressive, but she wouldn't be tricked today! Siyeon snuck forward, leaning against the wall, but holding herself off of it so her jacket's zipper wouldn't scrape across. She got next to the door, took a deep breath, and swung around with a shout, just like everyone always scared her.

But Sua wasn't in the room. Instead, Siyeon was inside it. It was like looking in a mirror. No, two mirrors. But the mirrors weren't right. To her left, she saw herself as she was just a couple years earlier, blonde har, dark red lips, and wearing a suit but it was torn and ragged. To tge right, she saw herself much younger, wearimg one of the Minx outfits she despised so much. Neither one reacted to Siyeon's shout. They both stared back.

"What have you done?" the older Siyeon asked.

The younger one broke down in tears, faling to her knees and grabbing at her hair.

Siyeon couldn't react. She watched the suited her pace suddenly bacc and forth, a more and more furious look growing across her face.

"Don't you realize yu had ambition? Do you even know what that is anymore?"

She tried to answer. She opened her mouth, but the other her jumped at her. She stumbled backward and the her in the suit couldn't seem to get out of the doorway.

The other Siyeon ws scowling, and her teeth looked jagged. One arm shot out but wasn't able to reach Siyeon. The fingernails on it were pointid.

"You failed us! We came so far for you! And you won't even come inside..."

The other Siyeon looked down at the younger one. She looked up end her crying eyes grew wide with fear.

"You weren't the self sacrificing tipe before either."

Young Siyeon spun around on the floor and tried to jump up too run, but the other Siyeon grabbed her by the shoulder and tackled her. Siyeon watched her mouth open and come down on the yung Siyeon, and gagged at the crunching sound.

Siyeon scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could manage down the halway. The sounds of her younger self shrieking stayed just as loud, even as Siyeon sqweezed her hands over her ears. The wet sounds of an animal chewing.

When she finally realized the end of the hall wasn't any closur and the screams weren't getting quieter, Siyeon fell to the floor, curling up and just trying not to lissen.

Screming. 

Screams.

Pain.

She was screaming.

"Siyeon!"

She couldn't stop.

"Siyeon!"

A pair of hands was shaking her. Someone was shouting her name. It sounded like... Dami, on her knees on the side of Siyeon's bed, shaking her violently.

Siyeon could barely see her outline in the dark. She grabbed at Dami with both hands, pulling her close in whatever hysteric fit she couldn't be broken of. She looked around frantically, afraid she would see the other Siyeon, but she just saw the light on in her doorway and Yoohyeon hugging Gahyeon.

It took her a moment to notice her heart and lungs pounding in her chest. She was the one screaming. She did her best to calm herself down, but it was a process. The memory of what she just saw still coming back in wave after wave.

Sua came crashing through the doorway and practically fell onto Dami, piling on top of Siyeon. She grabbed Siyeon's face and held her tightly, telling her that it was going to be okay. But Siyeon's senses felt scrambled, and it took her a moment to even catch on.

Handong nervously approached and knelt on the floor. Siyeon hadn't seen her come in.

Her screams turned into unintelligible babble, and then wheezing, and eventually just heavy breaths. She wrapped her arms around Dami and Sua and cried.

It had been years since this had happened before.


	7. Part 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically this should have been posted weeks ago. I had it written but SOMEBODY didn't remember to actually post it. I'm that somebody. :(

"Shit shit shit fuck--"

Charlotte was off the couch instantly, swearing rapidly and gathering clothes off the floor.

Jiu felt stuck to the seat. She stared at the phone until it blinked back into sleep mode, and kept staring. Weren't they supposed to pick the members up from the airport the next morning? No, they didn't have a specific time. They'd only guessed. Did they both get their math entirely wrong?

"Jiu! We need a shower, quick!"

She was suddenly yanked up by the arm. Charlotte was half guiding, half dragging her to the bathroom where the water was already running.

"Timezones!" Jiu shouted, "Fucking timezones! I didn't think about that!"

This time it was Charlotte's turn to freeze. She stared at Jiu for a couple of seconds, then smiled. "Aw, Jiu. You finally cussed."

Jiu covered her mouth, eyes wide, but couldn't help mimicking Charlotte's smile.

After the funny moment turned tense again, the two jumped in the shower. Jiu briefly regretted how frantically they had to wash themselves off. She loved what few glances of Charlotte's dripping wet body she got to see, between having a pair of hands in her face rubbing at her makeup (which she resolved to avoid the next time they happened to be in a shower together). Even for a short shower though, it ended early. Charlotte didn't get her hair wet, pointing out that it would be a big clue if they both looked like they had gotten out of the shower at the same time.

Mere moments later, Charlotte came flying out of her room with a plate of incense, a box of matches, some eyeliner, and a basket of clothes. Jiu caught the hint and quickly threw on the first shirt and pair of pants she got her hands on. They were Charlotte's, so they were a bit big, but not suspiciously so.

The matches and incense quickly burned away the smell of sex. Jiu reorganized the couch cushions and the blankets on top of them. A load of laundry was started up. Charlotte brushed her hair painfully quickly, and Jiu left hers as-is.

Whether they were confident in their cleaning or not, they were out of time. Through the semi-one-way-transparent curtains, Jiu watched Woo-jin pass, toward the door. Immediately behind him, Siyeon, then Yoohyeon, then Gahyeon, then...

Jiu hadn't thought about how it would affect her, seeing her members again. It had only been a few days. Maybe a little more or less than a week, she couldn't remember. But it had been a hell of an emotional roller coaster, and it had pulled into the stopping point pretty abruptly.

She barely noticed the time between seeing her members and her hand yanking the door open.

Woo-jin caught his balance after being nearly startled over the railing.

Jiu wrapped her arms around Siyeon, already dampening the main vocal's hair. For her part, Siyeon was terrified by the sudden attack and didn't return the hug for a moment. Yoohyeon and Gahyeon jumped in with goofy smiles and glistening eyes. Over their shoulders, Jiu could see, through the blurry, wet filter of her tears, Dami coming up the stairs and the top of someone else's head. Considering she heard Sua shouting up at her from the parking lot, it was probably Handong.

Something about being in the direct presence of all of her members again set Jiu off, and she practically drenched Siyeon with her sobbing.

The sun was barely still peeking over the horizon by the time the members' things had all been brought inside. It wasn't much for each individually but the sun had been setting already anyway.

Jiu busied herself going from member to member, asking how they had been the past few days, checking to make sure they were all okay. And for the most part, they were. She could tell that they had concerns (and admittedly, she still had some of her own), some of which they weren't willing to share. She'd try to address them all, eventually.

At the same time, Charlotte was in the kitchen (right next to the burning incense) with Woo-jin, pouring over a much larger pile of paperwork than before.

Eunyeong was there too, mostly quiet, with a somber smile.

All in all, the apartment was... crowded.

And Jiu couldn't be happier about it.

A short time later, once the sun had finished going down, Woo-jin and Eunyeong left, promising at Charlotte's insistence to come back and visit someday for a nice dinner.

As they drove away, there was an aura of uncertainty that floated around the apartment. Jiu realized this was probably why she had been sent along first. She had an opportunity to help everyone adjust. So she hoped, anyway.

"Hey everybody, let's introduce ourselves for real!" she started enthusiastically, "This is Charlotte! She's awesome!"

Charlotte chuckled and shrugged, "If you say so, uh, yeah. You guys can call me Charlotte, or Shar. You know, whatever, yeah? How about you?" She gestured to Dami.

Dami shifted a little. Jiu knew she never was the best at being singled out. "I'm Dami," she said slowly, nervously. She also had the most trouble with English. "I'm Dreamcatcher's rapper. It's a... pleasure to meet... you, master."

Jiu's eyes shot over to Charlotte. This was bad. Dami would be the most embarrassed out of anyone in the group if she got called out for her first impression. Thankfully, she managed to catch Charlotte's attention just long enough to give her a quick, subtle head shake. Charlotte pretended not to notice.

"Hey Dami, good to meet you. I'll have to get back to you about what rappers you like. I bet we could talk forever about it!"

Jiu sighed quietly and looked over to see a small smile on Dami's face. Perfect! Just five more of those to go.

"I'm Sua," Sua started without being prompted. No big surprise there. But then, that was it, no follow up. That was definitely a surprise.

"Hi Sua. Happy to meet you. I heard you through Jiu's phone a couple of days ago! I love your pronunciation!"

Without being able to see Sua's face from her position, Jiu couldn't get a read on the situation. That worried her, a lot.

Charlotte moved her gaze on. Gahyeon was sitting on the floor too, closest to Charlotte, and she caught on.

"I'm Dreamcatcher's youngest, Gahyeon. Nice to meet you master!"

"Yeah, uh, maknae, right?"

Gahyeon nodded. Jiu could see her the most easily. If Gahyeon was nervous, or upset, or whatever, she was hiding it the best. She wore a full smile, eyes and everything. Jiu hoped that meant she was actually in a good mood. It would be easier to keep her that way.

"Well you're damn cute! Happy to meet you," Charlotte lightly nudged Gahyeon's knee, "But hey, you guys can all just call me Charlotte, or Shar. I'd rather not go by 'master' if that's cool with you."

Keeping her eyes on Dami for that part, Jiu only saw her blush a little. A little embarrassed, but not devastated since she wasn't being singled out. Good!

Handong spoke next, before Jiu had tracked what was happening, "I'm Dreamcatcher's Chinese member, Handong. Nice to meet you, m--" she cut herself off. She must have practiced that introduction with "master" before, "...Charlotte."

Charlotte looked a little confused, "Chinese? I thought, uh. Well, no big deal. Good to meet you Handong!"

Up next, it looked like Charlotte laid her eyes on Siyeon, right next to Jiu. But Siyeon had her eyes on the floor. Jiu carefully nudged her arm. She startled a bit, but calmed down quickly. Jiu lamented to herself that she and Sua were most obviously in the worst moods of anyone in the group. That was going to complicate things.

"I'm Siyeon. I'm the main vocal."

"Damn, I can tell just from the way you talk! You've got a great voice Siyeon. Good to meet you."

The corner of Siyeon's mouth twitched up, and Jiu thought she might have cheered her up for about half a second, but her eyes and mouth dropped again.

That left Yoohyeon. She appeared to be taking this about the same as Dami and Handong, neutrally.

"How about you?" Charlotte started it this time.

A mischievous grin spread across Yoohyeon's face and she spoke in an unusually confident tone, striking a pose, "My name is Yoohyeon, but you can call me Puppy H."

Gahyeon snorted back a laugh and Dami, Handong, and Siyeon all chuckled. Jiu reached over Siyeon to slap Yoohyeon's shoulder, but she couldn't help but laugh too. And best in her eyes, it worked on Charlotte. She made a mental note to thank Puppy H for the perfect levity timing later.

"It, uh, it might take me a while to say that without laughing, but I'll try."

The giggling quieted down after a few seconds. "Well, I'm happy to meet you all," Charlotte said, "I bet you're all tired after your long flight, so I have some, uh, slightly bad news. Jiu and I thought we should wait on getting a house because we wanted you six to be able to have some input on where we live, and we were going to get some extra air mattresses until then. But, uh... we got caught up with some of the obligations of the contract earlier today. There's a store real close though. We can grab some but it will be like half an hour. I can make you all some tea, and in the meantime you can use my bed or the couch?"

Everyone agreed, with varying levels of enthusiasm. The jet lag was definitely something they were all thinking about. Jiu spread out the blankets on the couch, and Charlotte reorganized her bed after setting some water up to boil.

While everyone sipped, they figured out where they would all sleep. Siyeon and Dami called the bed, Yoohyeon and Gahyeon offered to take the couch, and Sua insisted she'd sleep on the floor. Handong said she wasn't tired though, and she could help with getting the mattresses.

When everyone was more or less comfortable, Charlotte, Jiu and Handong went out to the car and made their way out. But less than halfway there, Handong was asleep in the passenger seat. She only sort of woke up when they arrived, so Charlotte gave her the jacket she was wearing, and went inside with Jiu.

Once they were all the way through the superstore at an aisle full of pillows, the two finally took a second to look each other in the eyes and laugh.

"What if they had just been a few minutes earlier?"

"Oh fuck, you didn't even put underwear back on!"

"I was so scared when Woo-jin came in!"

"Like, did we leave something on the floor and not catch it, right?"

They wrapped their arms around each other and sighed, wiping tears from their eyes. They quieted down as an employee strolled past, but Charlotte still gave Jiu's panty-less ass a quick squeeze.

"So," Jiu asked when they finally calmed down a bit, "When we get a house, do you think the walls will be sound proof?"

"We should probably plan on it, shouldn't we?"

Jiu smirked. This was better. She could live with this.


	8. Chapter 8

The flight to America was excruciating, and it was only halfway done. Siyeon was exhausted already. Her legs were like jelly. Her stomach rumbled at every little movement. She had only managed to get on the plane because Sua practically held her up like a ragdoll on the way through the airport.

She knew she should try to sleep. She would stay miserable all the way across the Pacific ocean if she didn't. But between the discomfort and the horrifying concept of waking up all of the other passengers with her night terror screams, Siyeon really didn't feel like she should or could put in the effort.

No, staying wide awake was definitely the best option. And so, she alternated between blasting her eardrums out with excessively loud music and bothering Sua and watching a tense drama and bothering the stewards and bothering Dami.

And of course checking the time.

The minutes ticked by slowly. Very, very slowly.

"Remember when we were in Japan and I couldn't remember how to ask for extra towels?"

A conversation here.

"Her dad won't let her marry him because he owns a rival business, but..."

A discussion there.

"I really like the way the guitar blends with the bass during the chorus. They were trying to..."

And a yawn.

"Yeah, could I have some more coffee?"

Another fucking yawn.

Sua picked up Siyeon's hand and squeezed tight. "Siyeon, it's okay."

Siyeon looked back into Sua's eyes. They were packed full of concern. Siyeon knew Sua was going through a lot too, as the de facto leader while Jiu was gone. And she knew what Sua meant. It wouldn't have been the first time that she offered to watch while Siyeon slept, in case she needed an emergency wake up.

She didn't want to put Sua through that. It took up all of Sua's attention. But she was tired.

So tired.

Maybe it was really okay. There wasn't that much time left before they landed. And terrors or not, Siyeon knew she had to sleep eventually. What harm could it do to...

Siyeon felt her eyes drifting closed so easily...

Until there was some sudden turbulence in the plane. Her stomach turned over itself. She yanked her hand away from Sua and ran for the restroom.

Minutes later, half-kneeling and half-sitting on the floor, a horrific stench in her nose, and a similar taste left in her mouth. Everything unpleasant about the last few days, or maybe year, really came together nicely in there. And then came the voice over the plane speakers.

"We're coming up on our destination, passengers. It looks like we're clear for an easy and timely landing. We'll make sure to touch down in about ten minutes."

Siyeon didn't even have the will to groan. She managed to stand, mostly pulling herself up with an assistance bar.

"As we begin our descent, please make sure you secure your seat belts and make sure your seat is in the full upright position and make sure your tray table is up."

Stumbling back out of the restroom, a stewardess handed Siyeon a barf bag. Great. She rolled her eyes. She'd sure make to make sure she used it. Fuck, this pilot was annoying.

The security check for getting off the plane was frustrating too. Siyeon's bag had to be scanned three times, including when an agent opened it up and screwed up her organization, forcing her to refold all on her clothes. And Yoohyeon was picked out for a pat down. This worldwide paranoia about South Korea was getting old.

Then there was the ride to the embassy. The shuttle was bumpy. Siyeon still had the barf bag though, and she kept it hanging halfway out of her pocket just in case. Thankfully it wasn't needed. Until the car stopped. Then it was needed. Why? Come on.

Siyeon looked up at the flag in front of the embassy through sweaty, barf scented hair.

They said there was there was about an hour of waiting to do for a "paperwork review." Clearly the best choice that Siyeon could make was to sit on a bench and wait patiently, so she tried, and within a few seconds she was fidgeting. To keep herself awake or to entertain herself didn't matter. It was what she was going to do for the next h--

The next thing Siyeon knew, Sua was forcing her head down. She tried to escape for a few seconds but Sua practically had her in a headlock. Sua's lap was kind of pillow-like, and as her fingers stroked through Siyeon's hair, she thought she might just fall asleep.

Then she woke up. The clock was an hour ahead of where it was the last time she looked. And right above her head was Sua's hand with a... pear in it?

A small headache struck Siyeon as she sat up, an annoying byproduct of an unexpected (though refreshing) nap in an uncomfortable position.

"They have some fruit in the lobby. I wanted to let you keep sleeping, but your stomach has to be killing you right now."

Siyeon rubbed her eyes. They were still a little blurry. "What is that? I'll take it, because you're right, but what is it?"

"An apple," Sua said. It didn't really look like one, "Handong says the guy in reception called it a 'golden delicious' but it's supposed to just be an apple. Handong got it by the way. And right now she's out getting more snacks."

"Fuck, I love that princess." Siyeon took the apple-thing and precariously took a bite. It tasted like a slightly stale apple. Imagine that.

Eunyeong came out of an office to let them know it was time to go right before Handong came in with a box of donuts. Siyeon ate three of them despite Eunyeong's protests, to which Siyeon felt brilliant in responding, "What are you going to do? Not give me up to a slave master?"

Siyeon expected a comeback, but what she saw instead was Eunyeong shutting down and looking away.

At least the van ride was smooth.

Meeting Jiu was slightly less so. Siyeon was happy to see her, obviously, but she wasn't prepared to be smothered. And she got piled onto from behind too. She didn't want to be the first to tap out of the group hug, but she was. Jiu's tears must have blurred her vision too much to see how exhausted Siyeon was. Maybe that was for the best.

Charlotte's apartment was a disappointment. It was so tiny. Hardly made for one person, let alone eight. Siyeon sniffed. She lived in a place like this once, before Minx...

Fuck. She was a singer. And a good one. What was she doing moving into a tiny apartment with seven other women?

Siyeon sat next to Jiu. The leader was clearly happy right now. Maybe some of that could rub off.

Oh that's right. Her singing was being disregarded. She was something else now. Something she didn't choose. She didn't even know what was expected of her now, but did it matter? No, it didn't.

Her vision went blurry. The other girls around her blended together. Their voices faded away until it sounded like she was listening from underwater.

She was a singer. And she was good. The best. Dammit. What was the point of that anymore? There wasn't one. This was total shit.

Siyeon started seeing red. Everything felt hot. Why was it so hot in here? She couldn't react though. Her limbs were frozen in place.

She was a singer! Fuck! Couldn't they all see that? Didn't that matter for anything? A singer!

She was a singer!

SHE WAS A SINGER!

She wasn't anymore.

A nudge from Jiu snapped Siyeon back to reality. Everyone in the room was looking at her. What? Why? What were they expecting?

Charlotte was sitting on the floor a few feet away, on the opposite side of a coffee table. Siyeon stared for half a second while she wracked her brain. All she could think to do was default to what they did when they were performers. She introduced herself.

"I'm Siyeon. I'm the main vocal."

"Damn, I can tell just from the way you talk! You've got a great voice Siyeon. Good to meet you."

She couldn't help but smirk, but it quickly faded. Even if this slave master acknowledged her voice it didn't matter if she wasn't going to be on a stage.

Yoohyeon cracked a joke from Siyeon's other side. Everyone else laughed, so Siyeon forced herself to do the same. It didn't come out wholeheartedly but it was something.

There was some discussion that went back and forth for a minute. Something about sleeping arrangements. Dami said something about taking a bed, and grabbed Siyeon's hand. So she agreed and let herself be dragged away.

No changing into pajamas, no getting under blankets, just falling down onto the bed, curling up, and thinking about sleep. She didn't fall asleep right away like before. Instead, she cried.

Siyeon put her arm up under her head to keep her tears on her shirt sleeve rather than the pillow.

An arm wrapped around her, and she felt Dami snuggling her from behind. "Hey, Siyeon," she said quietly, slowly in her deep voice, "It's going to be okay."

Siyeon couldn't imagine that right in that moment, but Dami's presence was welcome at least. She did eventually fall asleep, sobbing as close to silently as possible.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next part after this one is also pretty much ready to go. But I'll wait about a week to post it to give you the illusion that I'm posting regularly. :D

Siyeon woke up at what had to be the middle of the night. Three in the morning actually, according to the alarm clock on the nightstand next to her. She sighed in annoyance and immediately regretted it, recoiling away from the smell her breath left on the pillow she had sunken into.

On her other side, yup, Dami was still soundly asleep. Why wouldn't she be? Siyeon knew she should be too, but something told her she wasn't going to be able... What the shit, where was her toothbrush? 

Siyeon slid off the bed and crouched on the floor while checking her pocket for her phone. Benefits of being too tired to take off pants before bed, she supposed. It was there, but after getting it out she came across two problems: the battery was at an even ten percent, and it was locked. Right. Slavery shit.

On the other hand, it still gave off plenty of light.

Using her phone as a mediocre flashlight, Siyeon was able to sneak out of the bedroom without bumping into anything.

The living room was going to be a pain to navigate though. She could see her suitcase on the far end of the room, but the bathroom door was right next to the bedroom door, and there were six women set up on two air mattresses and a couch, a coffee table, a chair, other suitcases, and some boxes in the way. Good fucking morning.

With that, Siyeon made her way through the maze, grumbling silently.

She noticed Yoohyeon and Gahyeon looked super comfortable, cocooned together with a blanket on the couch. Handong and Sua were spread out on a mattress next to it. And Jiu was sharing with Charlotte. How nice.

After a good few minutes, Siyeon managed to tiptoe her way around everything and quietly lift her suitcase out of the pile. Her toothbrush was easy to get to from there, but it was yet another ordeal to climb back over to the bathroom.

She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she closed the door, which immediately gave her a reminder of why she was there.

Siyeon got to work brushing her teeth in the dark. Her phone had reached five percent battery and so the light was much dimmer by default (dumb phone was getting too old). It made things a little bit... frightening. Of course, the worst of it was the mirror behind the sink. There was barely enough light to see that she was getting toothpaste on the brush, and the reflection in the mirror was nearly indistinguishable.

She tried not to look, but her own movements kept catching her eye. They were her own movements, right? Fuck.

Teeth brushing took a bit of a break. Siyeon turned around to look at the opposite wall. Nothing on it. Good. Just a blank, meditative space. Nothing scary about that.

A few minutes later, Siyeon felt her breath steady, slow. Just to be safe though, she stayed facing away from the mirror while she finished up, which didn't take long. All that was left to do was spit and get back to bed.

Siyeon held her hair back and turned around with her eyes closed. It was just as well, given the fact that it was so damn dark. She figured she should have turned on the light but she had noticed the prior evening how much light reflected out from the gap under the door and she didn't want to wake anyone up with that. She felt out where the sink was, leaned down close, and she was done! Easy.

Feeling significantly more confident, she smirked and looked up into the mirror. There she was, eyes a bit dark in this lighting (understandable), cute nose of course, luscious as hell lips and blood pouring from her mouth.

Siyeon screamed, jumping back and hitting the wall. She fell, and pain shot up her spine. If she wasn't suddenly full of adrenaline or terrified, she'd worry that she broke her tailbone, but the plush bath mat she landed on might help.

She scrambled to get to her feet again, at which point, her phone shut itself off, giving one last burst of light before leaving Siyeon in absolute darkness. She had to reach the light switch. She knew where it was.

Her shoulder erupted in pain too. The countertop rattled with makeup cases, hair dryer, and whatever the fuck else was on there.

But still, she was upright, and her hand was on the wall next to the door. She felt a switch, and flipped it. 

No light. The fan above her flipped on. It sounded like a roar. Siyeon flinched, and it took her a few seconds for her teeth and hands to unclench enough to flip that switch back off and reach for the next one.

Fucking shit, she wasn't ready for the light. It triggered an instant headache as her eyes tried to adjust to the violent change in lumens they were suddenly experiencing.

Siyeon backed off and leaned against the wall, holding the arm she didn't hurt over her eyes. Her breaths came heavy, and she cried over more than just the physical pain. How many days in a row would this happen? How many reasons could she possibly have to bawl her stupid fucking eyes out? This was such shit. All she wanted was to...

As she sniffed, she heard the bathroom door open. Her eyes were still blurry from the tears and the lighting change, but she could tell it wasn't one of her members. Great. Charlotte.

Siyeon turned away, putting her arm back over her eyes. She tried to sound normal, but she was too in tune with the sound of her own voice and realized right away she was failing. "Sorry if I woke you up," her voice shook.

There wasn't a response.

What if that was a hallucination too? Siyeon gritted her teeth and slowly turned around to look at the door. Thankfully it was open, and she could see Charlotte walking back to the bathroom with a blanket in hand.

Charlotte closed the door behind her and held the blanket open. Siyeon took it and wrapped herself up. Then she sat down on the floor. Charlotte sat down next to her. It was a very silent event. Calm, even. Siyeon wasn't sure if Charlotte being there was a comfort or not, but she was another human being and could pretty easily confirm if what Siyeon was seeing was real or not, if there was anything more.

The blanket smelled like Jiu. And it was already warm.

"Is Jiu okay?" Siyeon asked as she held up a section of it for emphasis.

"Oh, uh. Yeah, it was actually her idea to bring you that."

Siyeon smiled, just for a second. She stuck a hand out of her cocoon to wipe a the tears away from her eyes.

Charlotte got up on her knees and pulled a pack of makeup wipes and a box of tissues off the counter. She set them in front of Siyeon and leaned back.

"How about you? Is it something you want to talk about? I know I'm still a stranger, but like, yeah."

A nice offer, but Siyeon didn't want to. Not with the woman who owned her. She shook her head, grabbed one of the makeup wipes, and started taking off as much as she could without going back to the mirror.

"Thank you though," she said. Not liking the woman inherently didn't seem like a reason she wouldn't try to be polite.

"Hey, I get it, you're good," Charlotte started to get up, "Want some t--"

Siyeon lashed out before she knew it, and had a hand on Charlotte's ankle. It was instinctual. She just didn't want to be left alone. "Don't leave!"

There was a brief, awkward moment of silence, but Charlotte sat back down.

"Sorry."

"I said you're good. I mean, I don't know what you're going through. Uh, or at least I don't think I know all of it, but whatever. Your life just kinda got flipped upside down. I'm not judging anything you do."

A nice thought, but Siyeon figured she would wait and see about that. She grabbed another wipe. The first one was completely used up. She had forgotten just how much their stylists had loaded onto them, since it was the last time they were going to see each other.

The next ten or fifteen minutes or who-knows-how-long were plain quiet. Siyeon made the most noise, pulling out more wipes and occasionally sniffling. Charlotte helped a little, getting the spots Siyeon missed due to not using the mirror. There wasn't any talking. They both just gestured and assumed each other's meanings.

Until, "Do you think you want to try to go back to bed?"

Siyeon thought for a long while, dabbing at her now-dry eyes. "Yeah," her voice had steadied back out, "Can you... take me?"

It sounded like an odd question to Siyeon. She wanted Charlotte to guide her back in case she was supposed to be on an air mattress instead of the real bed. She didn't want to assume.

Charlotte smiled, "Yeah, totally. Come on," and she held her hand out. Siyeon took it and they stood up together.

Siyeon noticed herself in the mirror. Nothing horrible. Her eyes were bloodshot, but there wasn't anything else out of the ordinary. Good.

As they left the bathroom, Charlotte left the light on and held the door slightly open to give them enough light to make it back to the bedroom. It didn't seem to wake anyone up, other than Jiu, who was sitting on the floor, looking more than a little chilly.

Siyeon took the blanket off to give it back, thankful that now the darkness was probably covering her blush. Jiu half-stood, yanking Siyeon into a tight hug. Siyeon hugged back. Her leader smelled nice, just like the blanket did, but stronger.

"We'll keep you safe, Siyeonnie."

It had been a bit since she'd heard that phrase. Jiu had said the same thing years ago, when her night terrors first started. Hearing her whisper it now, even in another language, nearly made Siyeon burst out sobbing. Again. Fuck.

She managed to hold it back though. She eventually pulled back out of the hug, and felt Charlotte's hand touch one of her own, giving the tiniest pull.

Siyeon gave Jiu one last smile and followed Charlotte back to the bedroom. It was dark but she managed to find her way to the bed. Dami was still there, clearly still asleep, making her almost-snoring sound. She didn't even stir when Siyeon snuck back under the sheets.

"I'll bring you some water in just a second," Charlotte whispered, "Let me know if you need anything, alright?"

Siyeon nodded. She thought for a second about asking for some kind of snack, but she didn't know what Charlotte had, or if that would really be appropriate. She shut her eyes, thought about sleep, and...

Suddenly the whole room was lit up. Siyeon almost shouted, but covered her eyes with her hand and groaned instead. Who the shit was this jokester?

But there were voices. It sounded like the others. No, it was definitely them. Right in the middle of a conversation? What?

Lowering her hand slowly, she saw the bedroom door wide open, and through it, Handong and Charlotte in the kitchen. It looked like the entire fucking sun was in the living room.

But then again, the alarm clock on the nightstand said it was almost eight. Next to it was a full glass of water.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, see? It's only been about a week right?
> 
> Anyway, A WILD SHIP APPEARS!
> 
> Warning in case you're worried: the smut starts instantly.

Yoohyeon gasped, squirmed, and writhed. The girl between her legs was the goddess of whatever she was doing. She kept one hand clamped hard over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Her head felt so light. Her breath was getting short. She tapped the girl's head to try and get her to stop, despite how much she never, ever wanted her to. She just didn't want to embarrass herself by actually passing out.

Thankfully(?), she felt the tongue and gorgeous lips let up off of her, and the mess of pitch black hair under her hand started to lift up.

This would probably be the last chance they had to do anything this... explicit. In just a few hours, they would be flying to America and they might be living in a confined space for a while. Yoohyeon knew she could handle it. She wasn't an especially needy lover, but the same couldn't really be said for her insatiable fox.

Gahyeon practically climbed up Yoohyeon's body, putting them face to face, giving Yoohyeon one of those looks that made her think she was physically melting from the heat. She might have climaxed right then if her body wasn't already on-the-verge-of-death exhausted from all of the other orgasms.

All Yoohyeon could do was open her mouth and let the maknae attack her tongue. This (and all the times this had happened in the past several months) was beyond Yoohyeon's wildest dreams (and some of her dreams about Gahyeon had been damn wild). It was a little sad to think about how long it might be before she would get ravaged again, but she thought for a moment about how nuts Gahyeon would get if she were to get mercilessly teased for a few days or weeks. She pictured Gahyeon pinning her down and grinding on her face for hours, panting with need, begging for more than Yoohyeon can give with her tongue alone, but not willing to let her hands off her tits, and desperately pulling Yoohyeon's hair, then pulling her own, hoarse breaths turning into moans, and then into screams of pleasure, waking up neighbors, quivering uncontrollably and losing the focus in her wild eyes, trying to reach for-

The intense make out was broken all of a sudden.

"What's so funny, Yoo?"

Yoohyeon barely registered that she was chuckling. Maybe passing out would have been the less embarrassing option. But still, she smirked, "Just having some perverted thoughts," she said in the most suggestive voice she could manage.

"Oooh," Gahyeon sounded very interested, brushing some of her tussled hair out from between their faces, "Fantasizing about someone else while I get you off, are you?"

"Wha-WHAT? NO! No, I promise, it was you! I was thinking about you!" Yoohyeon blundered through her confession. Gahyeon cut in with a laugh.

"Aw, that's too bad."

Yoohyeon always had to remind herself of that conversation Gahyeon had with her when they started dating... but it wasn't the time to think about it.

"But hey! Think you can go for juuust one more?" Gahyeon's eyes were wide, as if someone just offered her a whole cake, but still sexually charged.

With a long, drawn out sigh (honestly, mostly just to give herself a little more time to recover), Yoohyeon nodded, "Just a few minutes more, then we need to finish packing."

Gahyeon slid back down to hover her mouth between Yoohyeon's legs. "Oh trust me. A few minutes is all I need."

Yoohyeon was about to say something indignant, but she found herself speechless as her clit was attacked and a finger snuck its way inside her ass. She threw her head back and grabbed at the sheets. If anyone was home - which they shouldn't be yet - they definitely would have heard her then.

* * *

The flight was cozy enough. Yoohyeon sat between Dami and Gahyeon. She worried about Siyeon across the aisle, but Sua seemed to have her under control, in as much as anyone could.

On the other hand, getting off the plane was harrowing.

There was another security check, and she was picked out for a random frisking.

Yoohyeon couldn't tell if she was afraid, nervous, or just uncomfortable. A large, older woman snapped on a couple of rubber gloves and ordered her to turn around, spread her arms, and hold still. She did.

The woman's hands were warm, but they were rough and clearly didn't care much for any sense of Yoohyeon's privacy. The bitter look on her wrinkled face was the only thing that indicated she was also not enjoying it.

It wasn't easy to stand in one spot, considering their size difference. More than once, Yoohyeon had to take a step for balance, and got scolded for it. She tensed up, wondering what the chances were of the Americans thinking she was trying to break and run. She figured she would be zapped with a taser. She would convulse on the hard floor, some or all of the members would get in trouble for trying to run up and help, everything would be ruined, Jiu would have to try to convince Charlotte to come pick them up from a jail cell (but why would she want criminals for slaves anyway?), someone would get beaten up, she'd have a concussion to recover from...

She was told to turn around. She did. She spread her arms again. Before she knew it, the security woman was getting to know the itty bitty titty committee. Yoohyeon wasn't even sure that was allowed, but she felt humiliated anyway. She screwed her eyes shut and bit her tongue (not too hard) to avoid saying anything that would get her shocked with a billion volts or whatever. When the woman moved on to her stomach, she opened her eyes back up.

Who else would she see other than Gahyeon?

The maknae was at the end point of the security line, shoes in hand, and jacket half hanging off at an odd angle. She was looking straight at Yoohyeon. As soon as they locked eyes, Gahyeon raised an eyebrow, and smirked... like a little fucking demon!

Yoohyeon shot her an angry look, trying to avoid letting the security woman see it. But Gahyeon's hand slowly lifted and - without EVEN checking to see if ANYONE WAS LOOKING - squeezed her own boob under the hanging jacket.

The rest of the pat down went by in a flash. Gahyeon turned away to put her jacket and shoes on... and it pissed Yoohyeon off! She just mocked her at the worst time!

She barely registered when security told her she could go on, but she knew she could storm over, so she did.

Yoohyeon felt like she was twelve feet tall, looming over Gahyeon's tiny, hunched over frame. She wanted to shove the small girl over... but she thought it would be rude to do it before her shoes were tied, so she waited, arms crossed and foot tapping.

Gahyeon didn't stand up immediately though. In a low, dark voice, she spoke through the curtain of her hair, "I see how it is, Kim Yoohyeon."

"... What?" Yoohyeon should have guessed where this was going.

"You see an older lady and you let her put your hands all over you. How long have you been cheating like this?"

Yoohyeon knew that wasn't how Gahyeon felt, this was a joke! One she didn't know how to respond to! "That's... shut up!" she hissed, quietly to avoid anyone hearing, but hopefully loud enough to get the message across that she was upset.

She almost tipped over when Gahyeon suddenly stood up, pressing herself against Yoohyeon's front. Yoohyeon felt the girl's tits smashing against the bottom of hers. "Oh so now it's my fault? Am I not pretty enough for you, Kim Yoohyeon?" she asked with the most mocking tone she could come up with, Yoohyeon was sure, "I'm the one that needs to change?"

Gahyeon's forehead was buried in her neck. If she weren't mad, that's where she would want Gahyeon to stay. Maybe she still did. It was definitely comfortable. She did like it.

"H-hey! Hey!" Yoohyeon shoved her maknae away, and saw the grin spread across her face. She pointed menacingly, "You..." she quieted down to a whisper, and drew in close, to make sure her glare was up close and personal. And yet she still didn't know what to say. 

Yoohyeon felt two fingers poke her in the stomach, and her glare softened unintentionally. She huffed, poked Gahyeon back with three fingers, and stormed away to find her stuff on the conveyor belt.

* * *

In the embassy, Yoohyeon sat with Handong. They hadn't talked much in the last few days. Today wasn't really any different, but Gahyeon was talking to Dami, so Yoohyeon figured it was as good a time as any other.

"So, we're here," Yoohyeon tried.

Handong responded without hesitating, "Yeah, we are."

It was awkward for a few seconds.

"Are you... scared?"

Yoohyeon mentally punched herself. That was a terrible thing to ask. 

Out of the corner of her eye she still saw Handong shake her head. "No, not really."

"Wow. That's really cool. You're a lot braver than me."

She wasn't sure if she was scared. She was definitely nervous, but it wasn't really fear, per se.

Handong didn't say anything. Yoohyeon hoped she was telling the truth, and not just trying to put on a strong face. Then again, it was pretty likely. Handong had volunteered for this. Not like the rest of the members, who were in by default and had the chance to opt out. The Korean government had no control on her until she signed herself up. Everyone else knew that was the case, but nobody wanted to bring it up and contradict her; she always referred to herself as being in the same boat they were.

Yoohyeon sat in the silence. She wanted to talk, but she hadn't known how to talk to Handong for quite some time now.

"I bet Siyeon is going to need something to eat when she wakes up. I'm going to see if there's anything around," Handong said. She stood and walked away.

 

* * *

Pulling into the parking lot of Charlotte's apartment, it was about what Yoohyeon expected. She had read the contracts quite a while ago, so she knew it was going to be cramped for a little while.

As she reached the top of the stairs with Gahyeon, they saw Jiu running through the door with tears in her eyes. Seeing her emotionally glomping Siyeon was enough to make Yoohyeon tear up too, and she joined in, Gahyeon not far behind.

Calming Jiu down took a good few minutes, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief only for the waterworks to start back up again seconds later. Yoohyeon found it humorous, but hugged her at every opportunity.

Eventually, after a quick trip back to the car to grab suitcases, everyone was in the living room, spread out across the couch and the floor, joined by Charlotte.

Introductions started, moving pretty much at random depending on where Charlotte happened to be looking. It was the first good look Yoohyeon got at her. She was younger than expected, first of all. And she looked like maybe she worked out a bit. She was the tiniest bit chubby by the standards of the country they just became expatriates of, but there was some noticable muscle definition there. And she had thin-rimmed glasses, very soft looking brown hair (didn't look like it was dyed), and great...

Yoohyeon stopped her own thought there. She pinched her own leg and looked over at Gahyeon, who was paying close attention to everybody else. When it came around to her turn, she said what she had practiced with Yoohyeon.

"I'm Dreamcatcher's youngest, Gahyeon. Nice to meet you master!"

Charlotte must have known a little about Korean, because she called Gahyeon a maknae. But what she said next made Yoohyeon curious.

"But hey, you guys can all just call me Charlotte, or Shar. I'd rather not go by 'master' if that's cool with you."

Yoohyeon found herself very interested in this woman at that. Why a person who didn't want to be called "master" would own slaves was beyond her. Unless it was a psychological game Charlotte was playing... but to what end? Could she just be extra cruel? Yoohyeon imagined them, a year or two in the future, living in some kind of mega mansion, wearing maid outfits, talking to a detective about someone being murdered, and all seven of them vouching for Charlotte, but in reality she's the killer, and when Yoohyeon was the only one to suspect something, Charlotte confronts her, and threatens Yoohyeon, pinning her against the wall by the shoulder and softly touchin--

Yoohyeon pinched herself again, harder. That wasn't the kind of thing she wanted to think about!

She resolved to pay close attention to Charlotte. She'd make the best of the situation, like she had been up to then, but there wasn't any harm in being slightly suspicious.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to do that before Charlotte's eyes were on her. Everyone else had introduced themselves already. But Yoohyeon figured she could try a little something right then (scientific method!). She could be super casual about her introduction, and gauge the reaction.

In her best impression of Charlotte's tone from earlier, Yoohyeon hopped to action, complete with a fake rapper pose, "My name is Yoohyeon, but you can call me Puppy H."

The reaction was pretty clear. Everyone but Sua thought it was funny. And among the giggles, and hearing Gahyeon's cute snort... Yoohyeon forgot to pay attention to Charlotte.


End file.
